The Hunt
by Ryan1882
Summary: A sinister pack, an evil red head, bella must chase Down any clues that might lead her to the life she once had, this is a bella/Kate story with a twist.
1. Prologue

**_The Hunt._**

 **Prologue**

In the sky finger painted orange and red, the sun was setting; changing what had a been a rare, gorgeous day of heat back into smoky darkness. The wind whipped through the trees, demolishing leaves and rattling still branches. Stood upon a high boulder, a cloaked figure watched the sun fall into oblivion and behind a gleaming city full of colour and sound.

The hooded figure descended from the rock, splashing into the surrounding river and preparing for the journey onwards. While the city had seemed lush with life from afar, upon closer inspection it was bare, with few people milling around the trash-strewn streets, and many lights taking over the abandoned roads.

Travelling deeper into the maze of buildings found the figure facing a small bar that looked to have seen better days. With hesitant steps but a strong hand, Isabella Swan reached out to pull open the door, only to be forced back into the wall by the blunt force of the door swinging outwards.

Gasping in pain, Isabella clutched at her ribs beneath her cloak, her breath breaking out in harsh gasps over her parted lips. Two men wrestled each other to the ground to her right, throwing punches at every available opportunity. Cloak swishing behind her, Isabella walked briskly past them and into the dark, dank depths of the bar.

Despite the creeping presence of nightfall, there were few patrons inside and the bartender threw Isabella a surprised glance from the corner of his eye. Making her way over, Bella sat upon a bar stool and waited quietly to be served. The balding bartender briefly washed a glass with his dirty rag before banging it unceremoniously in front of her.

"Hood comes off if you want to be served, boy," the man rasped, his throat seeming to revolt against words.

Isabella sighed deeply, waiting for the ringing of the glass upon the wood to stop before lowering the hood of her thick, woollen cloak. The bartender assessed her with small, bloodshot eyes and then leered, the right corner of his mouth kicking up and revealing an unpleasant set of rotten teeth.

She watched as he took note of her thick, brown curls and scattered freckles. His small eyes bulged to take in the unpleasant and fading scar above her left eye and the way her lips didn't quite match. The look on his face repulsed Isabella, internally causing her to cringe away from such a leer, but on the outside, she did not flinch.

"Oh-ho. Well, young miss, whit' de ye want? Ye'll need to be showing me some identification if you'll be wanting yourself a beverage, mind." The man grinned and leant forward from his side of the bar, watching Isabella intently.

The young woman grimaced. "I don't require a beverage, just a room to rent for tonight."

Nodding his head, he grabbed ahold of the glass and began to scrub it with the dirty rag once more, smearing dust deep into the base. Isabella's lip curled and she vowed not to ever have a drink in this place, no matter how long she stayed. "I see young miss. Well I'd normally ask wer' yer' parents are but I'll no bother. Only room we 'ave available is on the top floor."

The young lady snorted indelicately. "Of course. That will do, thank you."

The bartender beamed, revealing even more of his ruined teeth. "Fantasti' Well miss, that'll be thirty dolla's for the night, and tha'll includes the breakfast too. I assure ya' our chef is quite the cook."

Bella repressed her next lip curl and simply nodded. "I'm sure they are. Here." She dug into the pocket of her cloak and handed over the required amount of money for her stay, and in exchange he dug into his pocket and fished out a rusty key with a number four engraved into it.

She took the key quickly, eager to call it a night and hide away in a relatively safe place. She was interrupted by rather a mucus sounding cough, courtesy of the bartender, and so turned back to face him with a raised eyebrow and thin mouth. "Yes?"

"I'll be needing ya' name… for the book o'course."

"Of course," she placated. "It's Bella."

Turning her back on him once more, and ignoring the feel of his eyes pinning, and following her, Isabella made her way to the doors labelled 'apartments' with a stiff back. She would have taken the elevator, had it not been broken but the lack of cleanliness left little to be surprised about in terms of maintenance.

After climbing the steep, worn staircases to her room, Bella finally reached the door labelled with a number four; unlocked it, and let herself in. Ensuring she locked it behind her, she glanced around and took in her 'room.' The bed was tiny but fortunately, she was tiny enough to fit, and there was a similarly tiny bathroom separated by a thin wall.

Walking back into the 'room' she murmured to herself, "why am I not surprised?"

She threw down her small set of keys onto the wooden table, sending up a cloud of dust in protest, and walked over to the window, gripping the heavy curtains and preparing to yank them shut. A glimmer caught her eye and Bella looked down into the dark alley beneath her window, her brown eyes finding and focusing on the woman below.

The woman was stunning, and the glimmer that had caught Bella's eye was her flaming red hair which fell in tight curls across creamy shoulders and highlighted her gold dress. As Bella admired the sleek neck and soft collar bones, she noticed that the woman raised her hands very slowly into the air.

Isabella's heart stuttered, believing she had been caught in her admiration when she noticed the gun. The gun pointed right at the red heads gold dress. Dropping the curtains, Bella flew out of her room, ripping open the lock and door, pounding down the staircases and past the bald headed bartender.

His shout of surprise followed her out the door, curling over the pounding of her heart and sending her anxiety levels spiking. "We close in twenty, if yer not back, yer not getting in!"

As Bella screeched to a grinding halt on the street, the cold night air burning her cheeks, she felt her heart lurch in fear. The lamplights that she had seen from her window, previously flooding the streets, were all off and the roads were plunged into darkness. She was swamped in it, and the thick, heavy night pressed in on her, cutting off the rational voice telling her to scream.

Cracking her neck and preparing for a fight, Isabella set her jaw and began to sneak down the dark alleyway. Squinting in the darkness, she found the spot where the red head had been, expecting to find a dead body, but there was nothing but empty space. Searching the ground for clues, Bella found nothing and retreated further in.

Crunching made her pulse pound before she realised it had been her that had stepped on broken glass. Thankfully her shoe had protected her foot from being pierced by it but didn't protect goosebumps of awareness flaring over her skin. Whoever had been holding a gun earlier, knew she was here now.

Holding still in the darkness for several heartbeats, Bella warily watched her visible surroundings, all too aware that her back was exposed. When no one came out of the shadows to attack her she took another step forward and stopped again at the sound of another noise. What was that?

She cocked her head to the side, trying to decipher the sound and comprehend the meaning of it. Sobbing? Coughing? Crying? No, it didn't match. It was brutal, primal… hunger… eating… drinking. Bella froze. Slurping. It was the sound of someone slurping because they were enjoying a meal.

Another step in and her foot brushed against a cool object, but Isabella already knew what it was before she looked down. Because she already knew what she was about to find, and she was already prepared when she picked up the gun, and it was covered in warm blood. The blood coated her palm and she dropped it in disgust.

The heavy metal crashed violently onto the concrete ground and took Bella's pulse with it. Wanting to run but rooted to the spot, she was frozen solid. A vicious breeze whipped past her, stinging her soft skin and Bella hissed in surprise, pulled from her frozen stupor. She knew what scene she had found; she'd grown up learning all about them after all.

Standing tall, Isabella watched a spot in the darkness and did not flinch when a single light set the alley ablaze and washed over the red head. With swinging hips and feisty confidence, the red head prowled out of the shadows with both hair and eyes on fire. Matching crimson stained her gold dress and creamy skin.

Taking a single handkerchief from the breast support of her dress, the demon wiped the mess away from her mouth and smirked at Bella. "It seems you have disturbed me. Lucky for you, I was done."

Isabella grimaced, aware what awful sounds the wounded gun-wielding man would have been making had he been left with venom spiralling through his veins. "It seems I did," Bella responded flippantly.

The redhead's eyes flared in wonder at Bella's nerve. Putting one spiked heel in front of the other, she walked like a model on the runway to where Bella stood and brazenly stroked over her cheek with ice cold fingers. Cursing internally, Bella flinched. The redhead laughed breathily, her blood scented breath washing over Bella's face.

"What do you want?" Isabella asked, jerking violently from the redhead's grasp.

"Answer mine first: why are you here?" The demon bit out.

Bella fixed her jaw. "I thought you were in trouble, I had come to help… It seems I tried to help the wrong… _person."_

"How noble."

Isabella couldn't determine if she was being sarcastic or genuine so she waited for the redhead to talk again, which she promptly did. "Oh well. I suppose I'll have to end you."

The demon's lips peeled back, revealing razor sharp teeth and her feral eyes. Bella jumped in quickly, diverting her attention. "I'm looking for someone."

"Yes sugar, we all are," she smirked.

Bella rolled her eyes. "No. I'm looking for someone supernatural, like you."

The redhead's eyes flared again, and Bella knew this to mean interest. "Really? And you know what I am, I take it?"

Bella nodded firmly. "And I know you couldn't give two shits about helping me, but I can make it worth your while," she bargained.

When the demon spoke again, she seemed to be only consulting herself. "There is something about you… You're not afraid of me; never were. You know what I am, what I'm capable of, and yet… but how? So many, many questions." She paused to finger a lock of Isabella's hair before whispering, "what's your name, little one?"

The light above the two women flickered, sparkling in the demon's red eyes and off her sharp teeth. "Bella."

Tugging her hair as leverage, the redhead brought Bella as close as she physically could until their lips brushed and she could count her eyelashes individually. "The reason you aren't dead is because you've gained my attention, Bella. As long as I'm entertained, you stay alive."

Bella wanting to nod, but was afraid it would cause them to outright kiss and she was positive those fangs were going to tear the flesh of her lower lip. The red head wrapped Bella's single curl around her finger and grinned.

"My name is Victoria."

 **AN: Massive thanks to my beta Cheri!.**


	2. Hopeless

**_The Hunt._**

 **Hopeless**

Agreeing to meet Victoria the next day, following a long night of sleep, Bella made her way back inside the dingy bar, and past the bartender, who muttered upon her passing: "oi, you're two minutes late you are, I should throw you back out, I should!"

Ignoring his ramblings, she slowly pushed her way up the flight of stairs to her room. Physically she was exhausted, but mentally she churned with questions that continued to arise with no answers. Rounding the corner, Bella was just remembering how she had slammed her door shut with no keys to hand, when she noticed her door was ajar.

Pursing her lips and trying to calm her paranoid thoughts, she inched as close as she could to the gap in the door and used it to peer inside. As she lay her palm on the door, a soft spoken male voice whispered, "don't be shy. I won't bite."

The voice had a heavy English accent, and therefore belonged to someone that Isabella was not acquainted with. She pushed the door open completely and stepped inside. Having experienced the shock of meeting Victoria not twenty minutes ago, Bella didn't have enough adrenaline left in her to be frightened by this unknown presence.

The moon outlined him sat on the small bed she had been provided for the night, but all Isabella could make out was his thick hair and heavy brows. "Who are you, and what do you want?" She demanded.

The man did not answer right away, instead striving to set Bella on edge by puffing leisurely on the cigar burning between his fingers. When he chuckled softly, it was released in a cloud of white, sweet smelling smoke. "Who I am is of no importance, but what I want is a different story."

Bella crossed her arms in annoyance. "Would you cut to the chase already? The dramatics are starting to piss me off."

The stranger kept quiet in the face of her outburst, and Isabella repressed the urge to sway on her feet. She was so tired that her eyes were weighted and trying their hardest to find closure. The man reached inside his jacket a second later and removed a box of matches. It seemed that his cigar had gone out.

Blinking in succession to stay awake, Bella watched as he struck the match and brought it to the cigar in his mouth. The flame danced across his face, revealing skin heavily scarred and lined. The spike of fear shooting through Isabella's stomach woke her up, straightening her slouch and making her pay attention.

There was an unknown man before her, and this wasn't the time to be falling asleep. Silence stretched between the two of them, and Bella could tell that the stranger liked putting her on edge. Perhaps she had insulted him by her lack of fear earlier on, and now he was trying his best to ratchet up the tension. It was working.

"Your new friend," he finally answered in another cloud of smoke.

Wrapping bravado around her like a well-worn cloak, Bella snorted and tried to push past the unease that stirred at this man's knowledge. She had only met Victoria twenty minutes ago, which meant he knew what Victoria was too. "She tried to kill me, I wouldn't say that qualifies for friendship."

The man barked out of laugh, startling Isabella so suddenly she jumped out of her skin. "Smart arse are we?"

Bella backed away to the window, not willing to present her back to him. "What do you want with-?"

Isabella cut of suddenly as a blur of red hair flooded in from the still open door. Had Victoria come back? Were her and this man working together, and planning to kill her? Why would Victoria do that, when she had every opportunity to kill Bella in the alley? And had she even seen a blur of red come through the door, or was she imagining it?

The stranger had continued talking, despite Bella's abrupt cut off in conversation. "I want a lot of things from that bitch, all of what she stole from me! You're going to help me get it."

Swallowing past a dry throat, her skin covered in goosebumps and her neck prickling, Bella whispered, "what did she steal from you?"

He removed the cigar from his mouth, and attempted to talk. Except blood sprayed through his mouth instead, coating the walls and Bella's face. Gasping and hastily wiping it off her cheek, Bella looked back to the stranger and noticed the spike producing from his chest. Victoria was bent over him, cradling his shoulders like a lover and whispering in his ear.

Whatever she was saying was too low for Bella to hear, or it might have been the ringing rolling through her eardrums that was doing it. She had just watched someone be murdered, and she hadn't done anything to stop it. Looking up again in shock, Bella screeched, "what the hell did you just do!?"

Isabella's mouth was immediately smothered by Victoria's blood soaked hand. "Shh, they're here. We have to get out, now."

Bella gripped Victoria's ice cold, solid arm and pealed it from her face. Victoria must have allowed it, because Bella's strength didn't have even an eight of Victoria's, despite it being better than a human… spitting on the ground, Isabella tried to eradicate the foul taste of blood from her lips and tongue.

"What the hell is going on, Victoria?"

"Someone wants me dead, and now that you've been seen with me, they want you dead too."

"Why come back for me?" Bella demanded, walking closer to Victoria who was stained crimson. "You don't care if I live or die, so why risk it?"

Victoria let out a laugh, but it was dry and humorless. "You don't live as long as I have by working alone," she answered cryptically. "Now come on!"

Following Victoria out of the door, Bella tried to keep up with her large strides. Gunshots rounded off into the night sky, and Isabella flinched. "What's going on, Victoria?!"

Her voice was nearly drowned out by yelling, screaming and heavy rain but of course Victoria could hear her, she just chose to pretend that she couldn't. Bella growled under her breath, frustrated that she was walking into the unknown, and frustrated that she working with a demon. Remember who you're doing this for, Bella reminded herself.

Rounding the corner on a stride, Victoria didn't pause at the fire exit, but rather ripped the chains off and pushed right through it. Running up two more flights of stairs, Victoria broke the door of the hinges as they reached the roof. The weather was awful. Rain fell from the sky in torrents and thunder ominously rumbled in the distance.

Soaked to the bone, Bella swiped her hood over her head in a futile attempt to better see what was happening around her. Gun fire left Bella's ears ringing and terrified screams left her dazed. Enough sanity hung around for her to properly make out the pounding boots coming up the stairway behind her.

"Shit," Victoria hissed.

Bending to pick up the door she had torn off earlier, she slammed it back into its prior setting and manually folded the hinges over so the door was locked into place with curled metal. Pivoting back to face her, Victoria wrapped her hand like an iron fist around Bella's arm. "Don't fall, or I'm leaving you behind."

Isabella was glad Victoria had red hair, because it was her only guiding light on the pitch black roof. "Do you know where we're going?" Bella screamed over all the noise.

"Yes. Here." Victoria swung Bella by the grip she had on her arm and shoved her onto the ledge of building.

"Are you crazy!? I'm not jumping!"

Bella's eyes panned the yawning gap between the edge of the building she was swaying on, and the lip of the building opposite her. Behind her, a tremendous crashing sounded across the roof. When Bella dared to look over her shoulder, it was the door Victoria had crammed back into place skidding across the floor.

Victoria had looked behind her too, but now looked at Bella. "It's up to you. Stay and die, or jump and maybe survive."

With a blur of red, Victoria had congealed from Isabella's side to the other roof. Throwing a look back over her shoulder, Bella saw the heavily armed men running towards her with their guns aimed.

"Fuck it."

Pulling back from the edge, Bella ran as fast as she could, and then jumped. Time seemed to slow on her way over, her arms and legs were dead weights, held up by the air passing beneath her. Her hair and clothes lifted in the wind, and the rain obscured her vision. With a crack of thunder, Bella tumbled onto the opposite roof, colliding with Victoria's hard chest.

With her head pressed into Victoria's chest, Bella took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. While the adrenaline drained from her body, the pain quickly moved in to take its place and suddenly she was screaming into Victoria's skin, because there was a bullet in her hand.

Victoria straightened up and shook her roughly, cutting off her screams. "You can walk, come on!"

Bella took one step, and then two, before she was suddenly colliding with the ground and the world was fading into black. When her heavy eyelids opened much later, she bolted upright and lifted her hand to her face. It hurt to move it, and it was wrapped in a bloody bandage. The room was brightly lit, and had an odd odor lingering in the air.

Through the open doorway a woman appeared, distracting Isabella from her survey of the messy room covered in clothes and disarrayed furniture. "Who are you?"

"I see you're awake," the woman replied.

Bella didn't answer, because she was too busy staring at the woman's bright blue hair. When the blue haired woman started speaking again, Bella continued to watch her hair ripple. "I'm Laike. I'm an old friend of Victoria's."

"Speak of the devil," Victoria said by way of announcement. Her crimson eyes pinned Bella and she grinned.

Bella's face lit up with anger. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

Victoria shrugged with nonchalance. "Nothing to tell."

Bella sat up straighter. "Bullshit! Why were you running from bullets? You're a vampire for God sake!"

Victoria's lips thinned. "Maybe I was trying to save you. Look what happened to your hand, could have been your head."

"More bullshit. You told me if I fell you'd leave me."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Look I'll tell you later. I do have something for you though."

Reaching into her jean pocket, alerting Bella for the first time that she had changed out of her gold dress, Victoria retrieved a patterned bracelet, decorated in silver moons and stars, with the tiniest inscription carved around the edges: my love. Bella's throat tightened and tears sprung to her eyes.

"Where…" she paused, her voice nearly gone with how tight it had closed. She pulled herself together, trying not to show weakness in front of Victoria and her friend. They were vampires, and Victoria was sadistic. She could do anything, at any time and it would all be in the name of entertainment. "Where did you find it?"

Victoria looked at her nails and scrubbed them across her shirt. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it had your scent all over it, and another's…"

With a shaking hand, Isabella placed in on her left wrist, due to her right one being bandaged tightly. "You want to tell me who we're looking for now?" Victoria asked.

Bella shook her head. "I've been looking for someone for years now, and that's all you need to know."

Victoria's lip curled, obviously annoyed at the power play between them. Bella didn't understand why she was still alive under Victoria's eye, and what she could really offer Victoria for helping her. Perhaps being immortal led to boredom, and so Victoria was temporarily allowing the disobedience.

"Something supernatural then? A boyfriend perhaps?"

"Something like that," Bella answered vaguely. Switching topics, she asked: "why don't you start talking? I got shot, and I want to know why."

Victoria laughed and her friend joined in. Annoyed, Bella threw the blanket back and got off the bed. "This isn't a game. People are dead, because of you."

Victoria gave Bella a look that made her insides wither. "Do you want the information my friend has, or do you want to keep bothering me about something that has absolutely nothing to do with you."

Isabella scowled. "This is bullshit. I won't work with you if you're going to keep secrets and get me in shit. I've worked alone long enough."

The red head shot up from her perch on the bed, her eyes wildly alive in the bright room. "I'm getting bored of your whining, Bella. I might kill you now."

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "I've got nothing to lose. Do it."

Victoria stared her down, not moving and so Bella repeated herself: "DO IT."

In the blink of an eye, Victoria's cold hand was wrapped around Bella's throat, and she had shoved her over a dresser, forcing Bella to bend to her imposing body. "You have everything to lose, Isabella."

Bella froze at her full name curling over Victoria's full lips and into her own gasping mouth. She couldn't decide if her lack of breath was the unknown name or Victoria's pinching fingers. "What did you say?"

Victoria smirked softly, her red eyes piercing Bella's brown ones. "I've found something. Something to help you find the supernatural person you're looking for."

Straining against the wood biting into her spine, Bella ground words between her teeth. "How? I haven't told you anything."

The red heads lip curled in disgust. "Yes, you've been most unhelpful. But I couldn't sit and wait around while you slept for three days."

Surprised at how long she had been out, Bella let Victoria keep talking, and tried to pull some much needed air back in through her parted lips when she released Bella's throat. "I found a name, and the bracelet. Wrapped in scent."

Rubbing her sore throat while Victoria sat down and flipped through a magazine, Isabella asked, "what name?"

"Abraham," Victoria answered through the flipping of pages.

Bella's heart pounded in excitement. Nine years of searching and turning up dead ends, and she finally had a name. These past couple of weeks had been especially hard, and Bella had been so close to giving up, to calling it hopeless and living a miserable life. Now she had a lead. It seemed all she had ever needed was the help of a vampire.

"Was there anything else?"

"A location, but I'm not telling you it until I get my end of the deal, Bella. All I need is a little help, like I'm giving you."

"What help? How can I, a simple human, help you, a vampire?"

Victoria lay the magazine down and smirked. "I'll tell you in time."

Annoyed that she was playing games, Bella growled. "How long?"

"Depends."

"On what?" Bella demanded, stomping forward.

Victoria gripped Bella by the chin, her tight fingers guaranteed to leave bruises behind on her fair skin. Isabella's heart tried to calm down from how fast Victoria had moved. "Until I get bored of making your heart pound."

 **AN: Massive thanks to my beta Cheri!.**


	3. A thief and the vampire

**The Hunt.**

 **A thief and the vampire.**

One. Two. Three. Bella examined the rain on the window from the edge of her seat, watching the induvial drops gather and drop, giving up their desperate embrace with the glass. A week had passed and still Victoria refused to divulge her intentions, or the game she was playing. Despite the subtle inquiries, Victoria was also clinging to Bella's information.

The location that Bella needed wasn't going to be unleashed, and Bella knew better than to beg, so she tried to remain patient in spite of her desperation. Like the rain and the glass, Bella continued to cling to Victoria because she needed her. But as soon as the information was hers, she planned to roll away and disappear.

The more she pondered over it and watched the glass, the more Bella began to get angry. Her nails bit deep into the wood of her chair, irritating her bandaged hand and causing the angry wound to burn with her. A door slamming in the background informed Bella that Victoria, and her friend Laike was home.

Another thing that Bella assessed, and examined. Vampires were quiet, and deadly. Slamming doors were unnecessary and done for purposeful reasons. Victoria was deliberately warning her she was home, easing her into a false sense of human security and trying to subconsciously lull Bella into believing she wasn't hanging around with a supernatural being.

When so much effort went into acting normal for her sake, Bella had to question the real motives that prompted Victoria to keep her around. They were back from a hunt, another thing Victoria tried to normalize, by buying human food on her way back just for Bella, as if she had simply gone shopping. Which Bella supposed was what Victoria had done. Shopped for blood.

The pair walked in laughing loudly, more deliberate noise. Their clothes were soaked, clinging to their marble bodies and giving back no warmth to dry the fabrics. Victoria's crimson eyes sought Bella out with a smirk on blood stained lips. "Bella, how are you today?"

Bella trilled out a false laugh, watching Victoria deposit the paper brown bag of food on the counter. "Me? I'm just great, thank you; how are you today?"

"See how cocky she is?" Victoria laughed with a solid nudge to her friend.

"Fantastic. I need your help now, Bella."

Bella raised her brow. "Does this mean I'll get my location?"

Victoria rolled her eyes, unleashing her wet and messy curls. "Yes. But it'll be dangerous."

Bella frowned as she unfolded herself from her seat. "How?"

"Dangerous like death, sweetie." Victoria replied in a tone Bella had only ever heard used to a small, dense child.

While Bella stared hard at Victoria, sharing her displeasure, Victoria purposefully lounged against the counter and slipped her slim hands into her jean pockets. When she had settled in comfortably, dragging out the silence, she answered: "You're wondering how?"

Bella gave a stiff nod, more than annoyed with Victoria's parroting. Victoria simply shrugged and evaded the question. "I was wondering if you would accompany me tonight."

"Accompany you to do what?"

"Steal something important to me."

"So you're making me a thief? What is this? Some pathetic duo act: the thief and the vampire?" Bella scoffed.

Victoria waved her hand through the air, dissipating Bella's snarky comments. "It would seem so."

Without another shared word, Victoria turned her back on Bella and made her way to the front door, her friend trailing behind her like a lost puppy. "I'll be back later, when it's time."

For the rest of the day Bella tried to puzzle through the interaction, pick it apart and understand where Victoria's mind was at. The wasted hours proved futile because by time arrived, bringing the redhead back with it, Bella was no closer to understand Victoria than she was to understanding the wonders of the world.

One thing Bella was certain off, was that she was being used. Victoria didn't need her to steal something. Victoria was a vampire; powerful; invincible. But what the bigger picture? What was Bella missing? The clock on the wall continued to tick, sending Bella crazy with its countdown to whatever insane plan Victoria had concocted.

Looking cool and casual, Victoria strolled in with her red curls pinned up and dressed in simple jeans and black jumper. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

Bella glanced down at herself. "I see a t-shirt, some jeans and some sneakers," she responded sarcastically.

Not impressed, Victoria simply blinked her long lashes at Bella, casting shadows over her own milky cheeks. Suddenly, the wind was being knocked from Bella's chest, and Victoria's hand was wrapped too tightly around her throat, leaving no room for air to work its way inside her system.

"Get dressed in the black clothes I left you," she whispered softly, digging her long nails into the supple skin at Bella's throat. "NOW."

Bella flinched but slapped her hand away, realizing that Victoria had allowed it due to how easy the detachment was. Cursing violently, Bella stormed off to the room she had been sleeping in and dressed in the black outfit laying across her bed. Fuming, Bella stormed back to Victoria. "Happy?"

Victoria smiled sweetly. "Don't you look cute."

Bella growled. "Don't ever put your hands on me again."

The redhead rolled her eyes, clearly dismissing the demand. Laike entered the room quietly, not speaking. Victoria turned to her, speaking in a coded way as she passed a roll of money over to her friend. "We might be back. Depends. You know how it is."

The two left shortly after, dressed identically and trailing along in the bitter cold. The harsh winds stung Bella's exposed skill, turning it pink in anger. The walk was silent for a long time, until Bella felt like cracking from the lack of speech. She spent all day in silence, and while Victoria wouldn't be the first person she would run to, she was the only option.

Casting for any topic, Bella finally said, "nice thing you did back there."

Victoria heard her over the howling winds and shrugged, her body breaking the winds so that they curved around her solid form. "I would have thought you would be more interested in where we were going, and not about who I give money to."

Bella scowled at her attempt to cut of conversation. She pushed on. "So where are we going?"

No reply. "Who's Abraham?" Victoria asked instead.

The question surprised Bella, throwing her off guard. "Just someone I know. Why?"

"Don't waste my breath, or yours by lying, Bella. Tell me, or I'll torture it out of you."

The threat also caught Bella off guard. Sure Victoria was rough, but Bella always excused her mentally with a multitude of reasons: her vampire thirst making her ravenous, her vampire curse making her emotions heightened, her need to prove she was the boss and the dominate one of the duo. But she had never outright promised pain.

"You think scare tactics will work with me? Would it really hurt you to just ask nicely?"

The night air was heavy with Bella's panting, and darkness stopped her from finding Victoria next to her, despite the others bright red hair. So Bella peered in the general direction that she believed the vampire to be, wondering if her words had any effect on the colder woman. Silence stretched tightly between them, making Bella's heart race. "Victoria?"

Minutes passed, until Bella stopped her walking, sure she had been left in dark. Next thing she knew, she was being pinned to a rough brick wall, the rocks digging into her the right side of her face. Panic surged momentarily until adrenaline took over and moved Bella's limbs to punch and kick.

Fighting back proved futile and soon exhausted Bella to the point of collapsing against the wall, panting for breath. An arm branded across her shoulders, hips pinned hers and a thin hand pressed her head tightly to the brick. "Let me go," Bella demanded hoarsely.

"Why would I would do that gorgeous?"

Bella's heart rate picked dramatically, hearing a man whisper into her ear. A large part of her had believed it was just Victoria, proving who run the show by throwing Bella around. But it seemed a complete stranger had a hold of her, and Victoria wasn't here. What was going on? Where was Victoria? Who was this man?

Bella threw her head back sharply, connecting her skull with the stranger's nose. He howled as he stumbled around but his hand stretched out, tangling up in her brunette curls and pulling her down to the ground. Bella whimpered as she landed on her hand, rolling away from the body next to her.

The darkness was so oppressing that Bella couldn't see her hand in front of her of her face, but she could feel the hot liquid pooling beneath her bandage where the stitches had ripped. Crashes were sounding all around her until suddenly a streetlight blazed to life, washing the surrounding area in yellow.

Victoria's face appeared in front of her, and then the red head was hauling her up. "Get up!"

"What was that?" Bella yelled unnecessarily.

"Rogue vampire," Victoria answered, releasing Bella's upper arms.

Bella squinted around in their small patch of light. They had been walking in darkness all this time, and then Victoria appeared and light followed her; hadn't Bella met her under the sudden blaze of a street light? Bella eyed Victoria who gave nothing away with her straight face. Did Victoria control lights? Or electricity?

"Did you get him?" Bella finally asked, not wanting Victoria to realize she knew her gift.

Victoria shuck her head in the negative. "Got away."

Bella massaged her throat, trying to prompt air back into her system. "What now?"

Victoria turned and continued walking, back into the darkness. "We keep going. We're almost there."

Bella struggled to catch up, and ending up jogging. "What if he comes back?"

Victoria lagged a little, allowing Bella to fall into step with her until she shrugged. "I kill him." She said it so simply, as if she wasn't taking someone's life.

"Good one, Vicky," Bella joked, trying to normalize Victoria a little with a silly nickname.

Victoria visibly scowled. "That's a horrible name."

Bella laughed. "I know. I should you fucking psycho."

This actually made Victoria laugh, the first time Bella had heard anything remotely nice come out of her mouth. Turning her attention back to their walk, Victoria's laugh died off and she pointed into the distance. "Right there."

Bella squinted, just making out a small and empty park. "There?"

"Don't let it fool you. This place is heavily guarded, and we should expect company any minute."

Victoria reached down and tightly grasped Bella's injured hand, causing Bella to scream in pain. Snarling, Victoria clapped her free hand over Bella's mouth. "Shut up!"

Bella clawed the red heads hand from her face. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're hurting me!"

"Good!" Victoria snarled, turning her bright red eyes upon Bella. "I'm preparing you. Reminding you. The man that shot you, the man that came into your room and planned to kill you. This is where they originate from. This is their base, and I need you angry and injured and ready to fight with me."

Bella scowled, her hand throbbing and making her stomach roll with pain. "I'm not ready to fight when you won't even tell what we're going in there to get!"

Victoria turned back to the deserted park. "My necklace."

Bella gaped in disbelief and ripped her hand from Victoria's, which the vampire allowed. "Are you kidding me? We're risking our lives for a fucking necklace!?"

Victoria didn't respond to her anger, simply answered with, "it was given to me by my mate."

Bella grimaced. She imagined that Victoria's mate was long dead, otherwise he or she would have been travelling with the beautiful vampire. Maybe that was why Victoria was horrible, so cold and unyielding. Bella knew what it meant to lose someone, and try to hold on to any part of them. She glanced at her bracelet and sighed.

"Are we going in then?"

Victoria glanced at her, showing no emotion but perhaps trying to understand why Bella had become so willing. Saying nothing, Bella stared ahead and waited. "Yes, we shall."

They moved towards their destination, and Bella felt a shiver roll down her spine. "It's creepy up close," she whispered.

Victoria was right. Looks were deceiving. What park was guarded with barbed wire, broken glass and rotting rubbish? Victoria tore at the barbed wire, barely even damaging her marble hands. Bella glanced around in paranoia. "Quiet! If anyone's here, they'll hear us!" She hissed under her breath.

With the gate now destroyed, they made there was through the park to very end of it, where at first glance there seemed to be a dead end. A thick foliage of bushes and tree trunks. Until Victoria pulled all the greenery and branched aside, revealing shutter doors large enough for delivery trucks to move through.

"Why would a necklace be here?" Bella whispered.

Victoria's tone was clipped and stiff. "We're not dealing with humans, Bella. They killed my mate."

Bella didn't see how that answered her question, so she tried again. "But how did they get the necklace?"

Victoria started stacking wooden crates against the doors into a rickety ladder. "They captured me as well. Now shut up and follow me. Try not to break anything." With that, she began to climb the boxes she had constructed.

Bella climbed behind her, dubious about her ability to climb things without hurting herself. Upon reaching the roof, Bella found that it was made of glass and there was a small, stone ledge that they walked carefully along. Victoria seemed to be familiar with her surroundings and only briefly stopped to tell Bella to stay low and be quiet.

Bella glanced over the edge, the large height making her head swim and eyes cross. She was so preoccupied with not falling to her death that it took her a moment to notice the two armed guards down on the floor. Neither of them spoke on their shift, and neither of them would ever speak again after Victoria decapitated them.

Bella turned her head, her stomach revolting against the last image branded on her eyeballs. Two heads rolling away from their bodies, and Victoria's black clothes splattered with red crimson that matched her hungry eyes as she licked her hands clean. Victoria turned her head up to Bella, who was still high up on the room.

"Hurry. Jump, and I'll catch you."

"I don't trust you," Bella hissed, but she jumped away.

"This way," Victoria motioned, making a quick dash towards an open door beside the decapitated bodies and poking her head inside.

Sniffing delicately, she turned to Bella and whispered, "I don't like this."

The long hallway they found themselves in was flooded with darkness, and the only slither of light was from an ajar door at the end. Bella tried to keep her eyes out for anything unusual but it was so dark, she doubted she was doing anything helpful. Victoria stopped suddenly, whispering, "that's strange."

"What is?" Bella hissed, on edge in the darkness.

"This room has blood in it. Lots of it."

Bella gulped but followed Victoria inside. Bella gagged, covering her mouth and nose with her top from the stench. Many bodies littered the floor all around her. "What happened here?" She asked through the fabric of her top.

Victoria glanced around, not covering her mouth and nose like Bella but clearly not breathing from the lack of moving chest. "I don't think I'm the only supernatural creative around today."

They picked their way through the dead bodies littering the room to another door, which connected to yet another hallway. Blood smeared the walls, and claw marks dug up the ground. Cautiously they moved closer to the door hanging from its hinges. "What was that?" Bella gasped, straining her ears.

"Growling?" Victoria asked, but seemed to only be asking herself as her hearing was better than Bella's.

Together they pushed open the door, and for the first time the thief and the vampire were united in their reaction. "Oh my god."

 **AN: Sorry for the delay, is Bella human?**

 **Thanks to my beta Cheri!**


	4. A thief and the vampire II

**A thief and the vampire II.**

"Bella, get behind me," Victoria whispered, recovering from her shock faster than Bella, whose mouth was still agape.

Bella maneuvered herself behind the redhead, looking closer at the thing on the floor. As she stared, the object began to form edges and curves, until she could finally make out a human being. The person was screaming in agony, drumming the sound deep into Bella's eardrums. His bones seemed to be breaking, and Bella could make out claws expanding from his fingers.

From head to toe he was drowned in crimson and his clothing was partially ripped from his body, leaving a tattered pair of pants clinging to his damp skin. He seemed to be so wrapped up in his pain that he didn't notice the pair of women watching him, but Bella noticed that there seemed to be an object producing from his back.

Bella couldn't determine what it was, but the closet she could assume it to be was a wire of some sort. "What's wrong with him?" Bella whispered in horror.

Victoria's face was uncharacteristically grim. "If I had to guess, I'd say we have a werewolf in front of us."

Bella didn't know what to say, and so the silence was filled with the man's roar of pain. His body seemed to be morphing into something bigger and hairier by the second.

"Maybe he escaped, killed them all in a pain induced fever. But that doesn't explain why there are two guards outside acting like nothing was going on."

"You think they was ignoring him, or couldn't hear him?" Bella asked, her eyes still pinned on the moaning man.

Victoria scoffed. "Trust me, they heard. A werewolf bite is agony. There's something else happening here. Something sinister, and I have to stop it."

Bella glanced at Victoria in surprise. She spent so long hating the redhead because she deemed her evil, that it was a weird concept to imagine her saving anyone, or stopping any acts of evil. Victoria walked forward and with her small blossom of respect growing for her, Bella gripped Victoria's arm in panic. "You just said the bites are agony. What are you doing?"

Victoria smiled, though it looked more like a grimace. "If I don't end this now, then he'll complete the transformation. Then he'll be an even greater threat, trust me. The Volturi didn't just wipe these guys out for no good reason."

Bella gently released her arm, though her strength wouldn't have dented Victoria's resolve or halted her movements unless the redhead had allowed it. "Who's the Volturi?"

Victoria glanced between Bella and the man who was more beast than human. "Another time."

As Victoria continued to move closer to the hulking hybrid, Bella's breathing became heavy and shallow, her chest confining the rapid beat of her heart. The man, who had seemed not to notice their presence before suddenly pinned Victoria with blood shot eyes. Bella squeaked in fear, but Victoria stared back at him without blinking.

"It hurts," he whispered hoarsely. "Please."

Victoria blurred with how quick she moved, and Bella expected it to be over in seconds. But it seemed the werewolf had a change of heart, or had been playing her all along because he caught Victoria by the throat and shook her like a rag doll. Bella yelped, despite not being the one swung around by her neck.

Victoria hands covered the werewolves and her talon nails dug into his dark skin, leaving gouges and rivulets of blood leaking down his bulging forearms. Bella watched in horror as the skin of those forearms rapidly sprouted hair, and his hands healed under Victoria's attack. He dropped the vampire to the floor, clutching his head.

Beneath his paws, Bella could see his skull rapidly altering shape and between his thick lips fangs produced, cutting into the supple skin beneath them. He removed his paws from his snout and looked at Victoria with beetle black eyes, devoid of light and human reasoning. The beast let out a stomach clenching roar, and Bella fell towards Victoria in fear.

"No," the vampire growled in Bella's direction, but not removing her eyes from the werewolf. "Stay there, Bella."

The beast snarled, its tongue lolling out of its mouth like the crude version of a pet dog. "He's massive!" Bella protested. "You need help!"

"No I don't."

Bella stood by uselessly as the two opposing supernatural creatures fought, teeth and nails, limbs and muscles breaking and spraining, reforming and being damaged in a continuous loop. Victoria fought hard, but defense seemed to be her best offence as she ducked and dived, rolled and tucked from the beast's claws.

"Fucking hell," she snarled, breaking the silence after minutes of stomach clenching fighting. Her fist landed in the werewolf's chest viciously, conveying her frustration and anger.

The wolf roared to her statement and Victoria struck at the opportunity, quite literally. Her arms swung back and forth into the man's stomach, before she landed an uppercut to his jaw that sent him stumbling into the corner. Bella thought she was actually making a dent in the creature's strength.

That was until he seemed to become fed up of playing cat and mouse, and swiped Victoria so hard that she was flung across the room in a blur of red hair. Bella screamed before clapping her hands over her mouth. The werewolf rose from its position, its jaw at an odd angle as it charged Victoria's crumpled form.

He gathered the vampire in his arms like a lover before he tossed her again. She landed further away, a gaping crack forming in her pretty face. Bella had to hand it to Victoria: she was pretty bad ass, despite the multiple beatings, she was back on her feet in no time and running back at the werewolf with fury burning in her black eyes.

With a running kick, Victoria landed the werewolf with a square quick to the chest before she swung her fist down into his exposed thigh, cleaning snapping the bone in two with an audible crack. The man howled its anger, its claws swinging in no clear direction which Victoria managed to avoid by dancing away from the sharp objects.

While Bella had to give her respect to Victoria for being badass, she also had to give her respect to the werewolf too, because he bounced back up on a broken leg and took Victoria down, kicking and screaming to the floor. Its teeth snapped for her throat, and she held it at bay by throwing her legs into his chest.

Victoria put all her strength into keeping the beast's teeth out of her neck but she didn't seem to have enough reserved to throw him off, or finally kill him, and it became apparent to Bella that she was going to watch Victoria die if she didn't do something. That meant no information, no location and no way back to _her._

As the man's jaw inched closer to ripping Victoria's throat out, Bella racked her mind in desperation, trying to formulate a plan to save the vampire. Bella couldn't think of any logical, rational ideas so she threw caution to the wind, picked the irrational plan and charged the beasts, whose eyes locked onto its new threat immediately.

"Bella! What the hell are you doing!? Stay back!" Victoria roared, rolling now that she was free from the werewolf's looming body and teeth.

Bella jumped in the air, the werewolf swiped out an arm to try and cut her into ribbons, and she took this opportunity to grip his paw and twist it around its back as she landed on the ground. The wolf howled and Bella locked eyes with Victoria who looked too stunned to speak, but not too stunned to act.

The redhead scrambled up from her spot, but the wolf sensed the trap and ripped its arm free from Bella's grasp, nearly flinging her to the floor. Bella screeched and held on by gripping the man's fur. Using more energy than she could handle, Bella wrapped her lean arms around the beast's neck and began to twist.

The creature howled until then was a final crisp snap, and then silence but for Bella's harsh breaths. Bella's arms felt like jelly, and her legs wouldn't cooperation. Feeling as if all the energy had been drained from her, Bella fell from the werewolf's dead body, expecting to hit the ground.

Victoria managed to catch her before she cracked her head open, staring at Bella with surprise etched into her now healed marble face. "Bella, your eyes… they're yellow," she whispered, stroking Bella's chocolate curls back from her face to get a better look.

Bella was so exhausted she couldn't move, and struggled to formulate words. Bella finally managed to croak, "I know."

Victoria shifted from the ground, helping Bella to rise and steadying her on her feet as she wobbled. "What are you?"

"Another time. Let's just get that necklace and get out of here," Bella answered tiredly.

Victoria nodded briskly, wiping emotion from her face and pointing towards a door. "Through there, I'm sure if it.

Bella glanced back at the giant beast behind her. "I hope it's dead."

Victoria walked over calmly before savagely tearing the wolfs head from its body, spraying herself crimson. Bella gasped in horror. Upon her return, Victoria smirked. "It is now."

Shaking her head mutely, Bella led the way down a narrow hallway with an oppressive white light. They reached the only door in sight, and opened it to reveal an office with two more doors and bookshelves sagging with years of books. Victoria examined a desk and all its contents, while Bella examined the books.

"Black hearts," she read aloud, glancing back to the redhead. "What is this place? These titles are nuts."

Victoria was silent, bent over the desk before she straightened and revealed her findings: a pearl necklace. They smiled at each other as Victoria walked closer, cradling the pearls between her pale hands.

"It's beautiful," Bella whispered simply.

Victoria nodded. "It is." She proceeded to hang the pearls around her neck and that's when Bella noticed the folder cradled in her arms.

"What's that?"

Victoria stroked her fingers over the cover, squinting as if puzzling something in her mind. "Something strange."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Must you always be cryptic? How strange?"

A loud noise in the distance had the two women on alert and glancing in the general direction of the sound. They weren't alone. "We have to move," Victoria whispered, clutching the folder tighter to her chest while reaching for Bella. "This way."

Once through another door, they bolted down a long corridor that was lined with glass windows. Bella glanced through them, barely making out lab rooms full of cages, coats and equipment. Bella wanted to inspect more thoroughly but shouts from the distance informed them that whoever was giving chase wasn't too far behind.

They reached a fire exit door just as Bella felt a stitch forming, and was struggling to keep up with Victoria, despite the vampires deliberately slow pace. The sigh of relief died in Bella's throat however, when they reached the outside, and more trouble. Arm guards surrounded them, and every one had an armed weapon aimed at their hearts, head and other limbs.

"Don't move."

"Kill them! We have orders to kill!"

Bella flinched, struggling to determine who was speaking as flood lights blazed the outside and blinded her. In all the confusion, Victoria shoved Bella to the ground, forcing her arms around an object as she dashed off into the light. Bella couldn't see a thing, but she could feel the folder in her arms, and hear necks being snapped.

When Victoria had finished off the humans, taking bullets and hits, she walked briskly back to Bella, roughly hauling her to her feet and forcing her to jog to keep up. Bella glanced quickly at the vampire, struggling to breath. She was covered in cracks. "Are you okay?" she gasped.

"I'll heal," Victoria snapped, as if Bella had been the one to hurt her, then she hauled her up by her forearms and threw her onto her back.

Bella squeaked in panic, clutching the folder and Victoria's hard shoulders. She lost track of how long they were running for, too busy ducking her head into Victoria's cold, solid neck. When they finally did stop, they were in surrounding Bella didn't recognize: trees, humid arm and a rising sun.

"Where are we? A forest?" Bella asked, stumbling from Victoria's back.

"Yes," the vampire answered crisply, apparently back in her bad mood.

They were silent, until Bella whispered, "you look better," indicating the redheads face.

"Doesn't surprise me. Guns only do damage for a short period of time."

Bella scowled at Victoria's blunt response. "So what happens now?" She demanded.

"Now we find what you've been looking for," the vampire responded, glancing out at the trees.

"We?" Bella repeated, moving closer to her.

Victoria nodded. "You didn't think I would leave did you? Besides, I'm not bored with you yet, Bella." Victoria finally cracked a smile, glancing in Bella's direction.

Bella cocked her eyebrow in amusement. "Okay… so where are we going?"

"I looked in that folder, and there was a location that confirmed the one I found before. Something strange is happening here, so I thought I'd check it out while you try and find the person you're looking for. Maybe they're connected."

Bella waited for more details, before she huffed in annoyance. "So where are, Victoria?"

The redhead crossed her arms over her chest and blew out a large gust of unnecessary air. "Forks, Washington."

 **AN: So things will start picking up from here. A huge thank you for all the support!**


	5. Forks

The Hunt.

Forks.

Through the dense green forest, past the lush and wet trees, Bella and Victoria made their slow progress towards their destination. "So, how do you know this man?" Bella repeated.

Victoria sighed. "I met him once, saved his life and now he owes me. End of story."

Bella snorted in disbelief. "You saved someone's life?"

"I've saved yours, haven't I?" Victoria quipped.

Bella pursed her lips, embarrassed. "So how long is this going to take?"

"How long is what going to take?" Victoria parroted.

Bella strived for patience, taking her frustration out on an overhanging tree. "Don't act like a dick, Victoria."

The vampire smirked, keeping her eyes straight ahead. "Probably an hour," Victoria paused, the smirk dropping from her face. "But on the other hand…. Hear that?"

Bella stopped walking abruptly, her eyes pinned to the red head. "What's wrong?"

Victoria didn't reply, instead pointing her long finger towards a small mound a little distance from where the pair were stood. Bella struggled to focus her eyes until finally she could make out four large wolves on top of the mound, all midnight colored which is why Bella struggled to pick them out against the night sky.

Victoria angled herself so that she was covering Bella. That was when Bella realized the wolves had heard them, and were now stalking them with their teeth glinting under the moonlight. They growled, and Victoria echoed it, crouching low in front of Bella.

"Enough!" A man's voice radiated across the open space.

The wolves stopped their movements but kept their eyes pinned on Bella and Victoria. Suddenly a man appeared beside the wolves, he was as dark as the wolves were with a shaven head and torn clothing. "What's this then? A vampire and a human? Strange. What are you doing in my forest?"

Victoria answered, her voice strong and unwavering. "We're simply passing through, that's not a crime, is it?"

The man smiled but it was less than welcoming. "I see. Well then, I'm inclined to let you leave just this once. However, that doesn't set the example I need to as Alpha to my pack."

Bella glanced at Victoria, who continued to stare straight ahead with a stony expression. "What would you say is fair for you, demon? Five seconds? Three?"

Before Bella could fathom what that meant for their survival, Victoria had already swung her onto her back, and was running through the forest as fast her vampire speed could carry her. Bella's scream was lost to the vortex of sounds following behind her, disappearing into the howling and snarling.

"Hurry!" Bella screamed.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Victoria shouted over her shoulder.

Bella ducked her head into Victoria's cold shoulder to avoid a low hanging branch, and when she lifted it again they were bursting through a close corpse of trees with no wolves behind them. Victoria glanced behind her, still gripping Bella to her back.

"What's happening?" She whispered.

Bella followed her line of sight, seeing that the wolves were behind them but were snapping at the air as if held back by an invisible barrier. Victoria didn't waste any more time after that, and continued on until they were sure the wolves were no longer following them. After a while, she allowed Bella to walk beside her again.

"What was that all about? Why did they stop chasing us?" Bella whispered, still apprehensive about being followed.

Victoria shrugged, looking less than fazed as usual. "I have no idea. This place is strange. Anyway, lets speed up. The town is this way."

Bella followed on, her legs soon beginning to cramp. Time continued to unravel with barely any conversation passing between the two girls. Bella was exhausted, and bored but she refused to complain. Finally, after what felt like an age, they came across a set of run down, decrepit houses.

"This is the edge of town. East, I think," Victoria informed Bella.

"Your lack of reassurance is astounding," Bella muttered sarcastically, her lack of sleep sending her sass levels skywards.

"Shut it."

Bella rolled her eyes, glancing back at the houses. "This place gives me the creeps."

"It's quiet here, not friendly."

Bella rolled her eyes, sarcastically mimicking Victoria behind her back as she followed her. After a stretch of trees, Bella could make out a two story, white house with a police cruiser parked out front and a swing attached to a large tree in the front.

"We're here to see a police officer?" Bella asked.

"Chief of police, actually." Victoria grinned.

Bella rolled her eyes yet again. The pair stopped to knock the door, listening inside until a man called out to hold on. Seconds passed before the door was opened, revealing a man in his late thirties. He had a bushy moustache, and was dressed in a police uniform. He momentarily

seemed stunned before his face broke out into a smile.

"Victoria, been a while hasn't it?"

Victoria smiled back. "Hello, Charlie."

He briefly glanced at Bella before indicating the pair should come inside. The inside of the house was a large contrast to the outside which had peeling paint and an overgrown lawn. They entered a room with some chairs and a little table.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Charlie offered.

Bella took a seat and asked for some water. Charlie had passed it over and she was sipping it when Victoria took a seat and become more brazen. "Do you have any blood?"

Bella chocked on her water, spraying it across the table. Victoria glanced at her with an amused twist to her smile while Charlie took no notice and without missing a beat replied, "sure. Chilled?"

Bella struggled to close her gaping jaw. "So, how do you two know each other?"

Victoria didn't answer, and Charlie didn't seem to hear because he sat down with them and asked, "so I assume there's a reason for you dropping by?"

Victoria pulled her mug away from her lips with a sigh, leaving a red smudge along her lip and chin. Bella grimaced, and Charlie seemed a bit queasy too. "We need a place to stay. We're staying in town for a bit but I haven't had chance to make arrangements."

Charlie's eyes widened slightly, though Bella couldn't determine if it was fear or excitement. "Well you're more than welcome to stay here. I have a spare room upstairs that I'm sure will be big enough for the both of you."

Victoria nodded, as if this what she had expected and didn't think there would be any other outcome. "Thank you. Now I have to ask: we've bumped into some wolves along the way. Do you know anything about that?"

Charlie seemed to ponder it for a second. "Color? Black? Mixed?"

"Why? Does it make a difference?"

"Well, if they were black, then yeah. There's two packs, take over different parts of the forest. My friend's boy Jacob leads the mixed pack, means well. Like to protect the people. The other one I'm not sure about. Only know the name of the pack: navagraha."

Victoria seemed to ponder this with another swig of her cup. Bella listened with interest, trying to work Charlie out more than the packs. If his friend's son was the Alpha of a pack, who more than likely killed passing vampires, why was Charlie friends with one, and even more interesting, why was he staking blood? Did he have regular vampire friends come around for a glass of blood?

"The name sounds ancient. I take it the navagraha pack are more volatile towards vampires?" Victoria asked.

Charlie shrugged. "Well, Jake 'ent so nice to 'em either. But Jake's pack has rules, and their purpose is to protect. The other pack doesn't care 'bout protecting, just care 'bout their turf and who steps on it. Seems to be some kind of war brewing between the two."

Victoria glanced at Bella who raised her eyebrow in reply. "Let's hope we're not here long enough to get stuck in the middle, right Bella?"

Thanks to Cheri! sorry for the wait/shortness of this chapter.


End file.
